Universal Service
TelecomAM: Kennard Defends January 1 Beginning for Universal Service
Support
Education
NYT: U.S. Technology Program May Grow To Include Online Education
Telecommunications
NTIA: Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance
Program
NTIA: Public Telecommunications Facilities Program
WSJ: Williams Re-Enters Wholesale Market For Long-Distance With U S
West Pact
Telecom AM: AT&T, MCI, Sprint and Others File for Stay of Telcom Act
Ruling
Merger
NYT: A Big Western Bell Rides East to Buy Connecticut Phone Company
WP: The Bells' Fastest Operator
WSJ: SBC to Acquire SNET for $4.26 Billion
Cable
B&C: Kids crave cable
B&C: NAB to support 'local into local'
FCC
B&C: Kennard won't grant Tribune a reprieve
B&C: Consumer groups seek revisions in inside wiring rules
Internet
NYT: New Rules on Internet Content Fuel the Battle Over Filters
NYT: FEC Puts Campaign Reports on Web
WP: On-the-Go Troops May Soon Vote Via Internet
WP: What's In a Name? The Future of Rockville Internet Firm
Antitrust
TelecomAM: Markey Wants Antitrust Div. to Take Closer Look at RHCs
WSJ: Microsoft Corp. Seeks to Oust 'Special Master'
Media & Politics
B&C: Media group wants to expand public interest commission
B&C: Government to buy anti-drug time
TelecomAM: New Watergate Tapes Show Nixon Considering Attacks on
Post Licenses
Lifestyle
WP: From War to Art
** Universal Service **
Title: Kennard Defends January 1 Beginning for Universal Service Support
Source: Telecom AM---jan. 6, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Universal Service
Description: The universal service programs providing support for schools,
libraries and rural health care began on schedule Jan. 1, despite
congressional calls for delay. Delaying them would have exacerbated "the
troubling gulf between those in our society who have access to advanced,
affordable telecommunications technology and those who do not," FCC Chairman
Kennard said in a Dec. 30 letter. Kennard also said that implementing the
programs as scheduled would "disrupt the plans of beneficiaries and service
providers alike." He said the support programs are not entitlements because
funding doesn't come from the gov't., beneficiaries pay for "a portion, and
many cases a majority" of the supported services, and support can be denied
if funds run out.
** Education **
Title: U.S. Technology Program May Grow To Include Online Education
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/010498education.html
Author: Pamela Mendels
Issue: Education Technology
Description: The Commerce Department is expected to decide early this year
whether to provide funding to learning technology ventures through the
Department's Advanced Technology Program, which has funded such things as
better refrigeration technologies and improved health information systems.
Program manager Richard W. Morris says: "If we migrate to the Web, all of a
sudden
the economies of scale change dramatically. If we do the technology right,
we can re-use and update and integrate the pieces of instruction in almost
an infinite number of ways so all the advantages of the Internet make for a
new economy of learning."
** Telecommunications **
Title: Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program
Source: NTIA
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/98tiiap1.htm
Issue: TIIAP/Funding
Description: NTIA has announced the 1998 round of the Telecommunications and
Information Infrastructure Assistance Program (TIIAP). For fiscal year 1998,
approximately $17 million in grant funds will be awarded. The deadline for
submitting applications is March 12, 1998. On January 15, NTIA will hold a
short public briefing to introduce the 1998 TIIAP competition. NTIA will
also hold a series of regional "Outreach Workshops and Partnering Events."
Title: Public Telecommunications Facilities Program
Source: NTIA
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/press/98ptfp.htm
Issue: Public Broadcasting
Description: The Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP)
announced that FY98 grant applications are available as of January 5.
February 12, 1998 has been established as the deadline for returning
completed applications. Approximately $21 million is available for grant
awards.
Title: Williams Re-Enters Wholesale Market For Long-Distance With U S West Pact
Source: Wall Street Journal (B4)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Terzah Ewing & Stephanie N. Mehta
Issue: Long Distance
Description: Williams Cos., a Tulsa, Okla. natural-gas pipeline company,
re-entered the wholesale long-distance market by reaching a five-year
agreement to provide long-distance transmission and other services to U S
West, as well as additional agreements that will expand its network and its
customer base. The new agreements "lay the groundwork for them to be a major
player" in communications, said Paul Elliott, whose Elco Energy Fund owns
50,000 Williams shares. U S West says the agreement will give it additional
capacity for its burgeoning national data-networking business.
Title: AT&T, MCI, Sprint and Others File for Stay of Telcom Act Ruling
Source: Telecom AM---jan. 6, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Long Distance
Description: Intervening defendants AT&T, MCI, Sprint, the ALTS, CompTel,
and the Telecommunications Resellers Assoc. filed for a stay of a federal
court judge's ruling that Sections 271-275 of the Telecom Act are
unconstitutional. Because the ruling is likely to be reversed on appeal and
"threatens to derail key parts of one of the most important congressional
enactments in many years, and will convulse national telecommunications
markets, the status quo should be maintained until the Court of Appeals has
had a chance to pass on the matter," the motion said. The SBC said it was
disappointed by the FCC's decision to seek a stay. It said the ruling
"finally leveled the playing field" by allowing it to offer long distance
service in its region and reiterated that its markets are open to competition.
** Merger **
Title: A Big Western Bell Rides East to Buy Connecticut Phone Company
Source: New York Times (D1)
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/financial/sbc-snet.html
Author: Seth Schiesel
Issue: Merger/Telecommunications
Description: SBC Communications Inc., the nations largest local telephone
company, announced yesterday that it will acquire the Southern New England
Telecommunications Corporation, the local telephone company for almost every
resident of Connecticut, for $4.4 billion in stock.
Title: The Bells' Fastest Operator
Source: Washington Post (D1,D4)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-01/06/114l-010698-idx.html
Author: Mike Mills
Issue: Telecommunications
Description: Edward Whitacre, Chairman of SBC Communications Inc., has a
growing image of being the nation's most aggressive Bell CEO. The
Telecommunications Act of 1996 was supposed to work as a starting gun for
the entire industry. But no one jumped off the block faster than Whitacre.
Since that time, he engineered SBC's $16.5 billion acquisition of Pacific
Telesis Group, giving it not only California and Nevada but also undersea
access to Asia and land access to Mexican and South American markets,
tantalized Wall Street by holding merger talks with AT&T, maintained
double-digit earnings growth for SBC, pursued a law suit contending that the
1996 telecommunications law violates his company's constitutional rights by
keeping it out of the long-distance market, and as of yesterday announced
SBC's offer to purchase Southern New England Telecommunications Corporation.
Critics of SBC will most likely push to have regulators impose stiff
conditions, such as agreeing to take certain steps to open local markets to
competitors, before approving the company's purchase of SNET.
Title: SBC to Acquire SNET for $4.26 Billion
Source: Wall Street Journal (A3)
http://wsj.com/
Author: Stephanie N. Mehta
Issue: Merger
Description: SBC has agreed to acquire Southern New England
Telecommunications for $4.26 billion in stock in order to become the first
Baby Bell to enter the long-distance business. The acquisition gives SBC a
good foothold in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern service area dominated by
Bell Atlantic. SNET began offering long-distance service 3 years ago in
Connecticut, and has racked up more than $100 million in long-distance
revenue in 1996. SBC expressed confidence that the deal wouldn't run afoul
of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, and analysts likewise predicted the
accord would have little difficulty passing muster with federal regulators.
** Cable **
Title: Kids crave cable
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.18)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Donna Petrozzello
Issue: Cable
Description: Children are watching more kids shows on basic cable and
fewer on the broadcast networks. A survey by BJK&E Media of New York reports
that children 2-11 watched an average of 211 hours of basic cable
programming in 96-97 season. Meanwhile, children watched an average of 48
hours of broadcast TV from fourth quarter 96 through third quarter 97. BJK&E
researchers attribute some of the audience shift to the amount of kids
programming that cable offers. BJK&E estimates that there are 10 times as
many hours on basic cable devoted to kids as there are on broadcast TV.
Title: NAB to support 'local into local'
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.14)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: Satellites
Description: The NAB plans to adopt a position that would support
satellite retransmission of local TV signals into their markets as long as
satellite broadcasters carry all the signals in those markets, sources say.
Bill Sullivan, VP of Cordillera Communications, said, "I think we want to
support some form of local into local as long as the local stations have the
protection they need." The NAB, although previously reluctant to state an
official position, long has quietly supported satellite carriers' so-called
local-into-local plans. And, if NAB has its way, satellite carriers that
choose to rebroadcast local signals will be subject to must-carry
requirements in those markets as well as to other regulations that now apply
to cable operators.
** FCC **
Title: Kennard won't grant Tribune a reprieve
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.20)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Chris McConnell
Issue: FCC
Description: FCC Chairman William Kennard is not letting Tribune
Broadcasting out of a requirement that it spin off one of its Miami media
holdings by March 22. Tribune, which is challenging the FCC requirement in
court, has been pushing for a repeal of the cross-ownership restriction. "If
the commission were to waive its ownership rules merely because a biennial
review was ongoing or upcoming...our ownership rules would never be
enforced," Kennard wrote Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain
(R-Ariz.).
Title: Consumer groups seek revisions in inside wiring rules
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.25)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Issue: FCC
Description: The Media Access Project and the Consumer Federation of
America are two of four groups that have asked the FCC to reconsider parts
of the new "inside wiring" rules they adopted in October. The rules were
aimed at helping new video distributors gain access to the wires inside
apartment buildings, require building owners to give incumbent video
providers 90 days' notice of any plans to terminate access to the building.
The incumbent then has 30 days to decide whether to remove or abandon the
inside wires or sell them to the owner or the provider. The groups say the
new rules fail to provide competition or greater consumer choice.
** Internet **
Title: New Rules on Internet Content Fuel the Battle Over Filters
Source: New York Times/CyberTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/010698standards.html
Author: Jeri Clausing
Issue: Internet Regulation
Description: The Platform for Internet Content Selection Rules (PICSRules),
a set of filtering rules that allow or block access to a Web site, was
endorsed last week by the consortium that sets standards for the World Wide
Web. Their endorsement will make it easier for parents to adjust their
browsers and choose between a variety of filtering software and rating
systems that are being developed for the Internet. However, the Global
Internet Liberty Campaign, a collection of civil liberty and privacy groups,
say the PICSRules go beyond the original concept that many groups endorsed
after that Supreme Court struck down the Communications Decency Act this
past summer. Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union said
that the fear the Campaign has is "that you are turning over to the censors
of the world a censor- friendly architecture of the internet. And it doesn't
take a great leap of the imagination to understand what the Singapore
government, the Chinese government or even the U.S. government will want to
do with the system that allows whole domains to be blocked out, or whole
nations to be blocked out." In reaction to these types of comments, Paul
Resnick, one of the authors of PICSRules said, "PICSRules are about making
it easy for parents to install filtering software. That's important for
parents, not governments."
Title: FEC Puts Campaign Reports on Web
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/010698campaign.html
Author: Associated Press
Issue: Internet Use
Description: The Federal Election Commission has started to post digital
images of campaign finance records on its Web site. This new addition will
allow the public to look up reports on many federal candidates, political
parties and political action committees. You can access the FEC's site at:
http://www.fec.gov/
Title: On-the-Go Troops May Soon Vote Via Internet
Source: Washington Post (A11)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: Colorado Springs Gazette
Issue: Internet Use
Description: The majority of men and women in the military do not live in
the state in which they are registered to vote. Due to this, military
personnel have to vote absentee or not at all. In an effort to make this
process easier on the people defending their country, the Defense Department
is working to develop a system that will allow troops to vote by computer
over the Internet. Their goal is to have the system up and running by the
November elections.
Title: What's In a Name? The Future of Rockville Internet Firm
Source: Washington Post (D1,D3)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1998-01/06/137l-010698-idx.html
Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Issue: Internet
Description: Aetea Information Technology Inc., located in Rockville, MD, is
one of approximately 70 companies worldwide that are selling a new genre of
Internet addresses. Aetea and other firms are members of the Council of
Registrars (Core), a Geneva-based group that offers seven new domains. In
addition to .com, .org, and .net, these domains include: .shop for
retailers, .arts for cultural groups, .info for information services,
and .nom for individuals. For the new addresses to work, Core needs
approval from the US gov't and is waiting for the development of more
complex software. Also, in order for the everyday computer user to have
access to Core address sites, the domains must be included on the network's
"rootservers," machines that function as the Internet's white pages. This
means Core will need to deal with the world's main root server, Network
Solutions Inc., the entity they were formed to compete with. Core's plan
could be pushed forward or held back depending on decisions made by a
federal task force that is looking into the future of Internet addressing.
** Antitrust **
Title: Markey Wants Antitrust Div. to Take Closer Look at RHCs
Source: Telecom AM---jan. 6, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Rep. Markey (D-Mass.), senior Telecom Subcommittee Democrat,
will ask the Justice Dept. later this week to step up investigations of
antitrust allegations against SBC and RHCs, his staff said. Markey has
strongly criticized SBC Comm. over its suit in U.S. Dist. Court, where a New
Year's Eve decision overturned Sec. 271 of the Telecom Act requiring RHCs to
meet local market-opening conditions before being allowed to enter
long-distance business. Markey believes that suit means the telcos broke a
deal with Congress. As a result, Markey believes that since SBC and U S West
have "decided to take parts of the Telecom Act they like and avoid the whole
procedure," he wants Antitrust Asst. Attorney Gen. Joel Klein to step up
investigations.
Title: Microsoft Corp. Seeks to Oust 'Special Master'
Source: Wall Street Journal (B4)
http://wsj.com/
Author: David Bank & Michael Schroeder
Issue: Antitrust
Description: Microsoft is seeking to remove Professor Lawrence Lessig, a
Harvard law professor, from the gov't.'s antitrust case against the company.
They cite that e-mail correspondence between the professor and Netscape
reveals a bias against Microsoft. Professor Lessig was appointed as a
"special master" by Judge Jackson to oversee the evidence against Microsoft.
In a letter, the software giant asked Mr. Lessig to disqualify himself
because of the e-mail exchange. The DOJ rejected Microsoft's arguments,
saying that the assertions were "unfounded and overblown."
** Media & Politics **
Title: Media group wants to expand public interest commission
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.25)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Issue: Media & Politics
Description: The Media Institute wants to add a few more members to Vice
President Gore's advisory committee on digital TV public interest
obligations. In a letter to President Clinton, Media Institute President
Patrick Maines said the current crew is lacking in four departments: First
Amendment scholarship, economics, journalism and technology. The group asked
that the White House add an expert in each of the four categories. Maines
wrote, "The committee stands a better chance of offering sound and
well-reasoned recommendations...if it has the benefit of a full range of
viewpoints and expertise."
Title: Government to buy anti-drug time
Source: Broadcasting&Cable (p.15)
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/
Author: Paige Albiniak
Issue: Media & Politics
Description: The White house announced a program to boost anti-drug
advertising campaigns to $195 million a year. It expects Congress to
appropriate that amount each year for five years. The administration plans
to place ads on all media, including TV and radio, print, billboards, buses
and the Internet. The White House's Office of Nat'l Drug Control Policy
(ONDCP) says it's specifically targeting 11-13-year-olds, but will also aim
its anti-drug message at 9-17-year-olds and their parents. Once the campaign
gets rolling, the ONDCP plans to negotiate with broadcasters for some
free---as well as paid---time during which to run the ads.
Title: New Watergate Tapes Show Nixon Considering Attacks on Post Licenses
Source: Telecom AM---jan. 6, 1998
http://www.telecommunications.com/am/
Issue: Media & Politics
Description: A new book of transcripts of Watergate tapes released late
last year reveals several instances in which President Nixon and his top
aides considered using the FCC to punish the Washington Post for its
Watergate coverage. In a sequence of discussions about retaliation, on Aug.
9, 1972 Nixon dictates to aide John Ehrlichman that Post publisher Katharine
Graham should be told that his Administration has "an impeccable record" of
not interfering with TV licenses. However, on Oct. 25, Nixon tells aide
Charles Colson: "We're going to screw them...They've got a radio and a
television station, WTOP, a CBS outlet." On Nov. 1, 1972, with his
reelection just days away, Nixon told Ehrlichman about how it wouldn't be
possible to "forgive and forget" after election.
** Lifestyle **
Title: From War to Art
Source: Washington Post (A13)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Author: James K. Glassman
Issue: Lifestyle
Description: According to the Pew Research Center for Politics and the
Press, Americans are "less attentive to the news than at any time in recent
years." James Glassman asks us to question if this is such a bad thing. As
John Adams, our second president, put it in a letter to his wife Abigail, in
1780, "I must study politics and war, that my sons may have liberty to study
mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and
philosophy ... in order to give their children a right to study painting,
poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain." It appears
that Americans today aren't as interested in what the government is doing as
long as it remains rather unobtrusive. Maybe we have reached an era where
we can turn our attention away from war and politics and toward an
engagement with culture and the art of living. Mr. Glassman acknowledges
that there is still "poverty, ignorance and pathology." But he states that
more than ever, "Americans are fruitfully pursuing happiness, the way the
Declaration of Independence intended." [Got that? Now back to work.]
*********